2008/12/17 by Williams · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Historical and Linguistic Studies #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Botanical Research and Chemistry #Gospel #Philosophy #Literature #Biblical studies #Classics #History #Art #Theology
paper · doi:10.1163/157007208x312743
openalex publication_date 2008/12/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Abstract Nicholas Perrin in his 2002 monograph, Thomas and Tatian: The Relationship between the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron, and in a series of subsequent publications has proposed that, if one translates it back into Syriac, a series of 502 catchwords can be found to run through the Gospel of Thomas. According to Perrin this number is greater than the number of catchwords in Coptic (269) or in Greek (263) and demonstrates that the Gospel of Thomas was originally composed in Syriac, which in turn makes it likely that the Gospel of Thomas was written with a knowledge of Tatian's Diatessaron. Here, a sample of Perrin's alleged catchwords is investigated and is found implausible. Consequently his late dating of the Gospel of Thomas cannot be established.